HERM EDWARDS: “This is the first time this year for our young players we have played a team twice. Every team has been new to them as an opponent but this is the second time we’ve played (the Raiders) and I think they have to realize that this is a division opponent.

“They came in here and did a good job against us the last time they were here. It was a 6-0 ballgame at the half and from there they hit some big runs on us and pulled away. They are still doing the same thing. They’ve got two big punishing backs and their offensive line is very good. They run their scheme very well. They’ve got some good receivers but their game is run the ball. They’re going to try to pound you that way. They ran it against Denver something like 41 times and only threw 11 passes. The quarterback is still growing but he can throw the ball down the field when he wants to.

“Defensively their front four is very good. They can put pressure on the quarterback with four guys and can cover well. They play a lot of man-to-man – that’s the problem they present more than most teams. They play a lot of man-to-man coverage and put their corners in tight coverage on wideouts. They haven’t given up a lot of points the last couple of weeks and when you go into Denver and win that’s a big game for them.”

Q: You had a couple of games where you held people down on defense and then this past week you had a fallback. Are you prepared to face this type of offense?

EDWARDS: “Well we’d better because they’re going to run it. There is no doubt about it. I think they ran it on us 47 times (the first game) or something like that. We know what’s going to happen. They don’t try and trick you with their runs.”

Q: As you look at film from last week did you see a difference from the previous weeks as far as defending the run is concerned?

EDWARDS: “Gap responsibilities – it always boils down to that. Not playing your gaps quite correctly. The thing that’s hurt us some now the last couple of weeks is we had some new linebackers playing. Now, DJ (Derrick Johnson) was back but Rocky had to play ‘Mike’ and Demorrio had to play ‘Sam.’”

Q: Not to beat dead horse, but now that you have had some time since the Jared Allen trade would you still make it given your problems sacking the quarterback?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, yeah, because of what you’re trying to do. You can’t lose sight of what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to build a football team and if you look at the guys that are playing we dress like 18 rookies every week out of the 45-man roster. I think most of them have played – some of them a lot — and the only two guys who haven’t are Barry (Richardson) and Michael (Merritt). Some of the draft choices are starting. I think we have six or seven rookies starting now.

“When you do something like that you know it’s going to affect you one way but it’s going to help you other ways. It really helped us in the draft to do some things we needed to do. We’ve got some guys who have a lot of experience now and are gaining more experience. With Brandon Carr he’s already played 770 snaps with special teams and defense. For a rookie corner that’s a lot of snaps.

“When you are trying to build something you understand you take a step back somewhere else, but we’ve added some more players and that’s what we had to do.”

Q: But wouldn’t you like to have a guy like Allen given the troubles you have rushing the quarterback?

EDWARDS: “Oh sure. But when you do this you know you’re not going to get everything when you try to rebuild. You know that. You’re not to get all the pieces right away. But I think we’re closer now than we’ve ever been. There are still some pieces we have to get but it’s a lot better when you look at our team. When you look at the starters on both sides of the ball right now the two veteran guys are Tony (Gonzalez) and Brian Waters. The rest of the guys are four years or less.

“On defense, really the only starter who is a four year player is DJ (Johnson). You’re building a football team that is going to be together for a long, long time. A lot of rookies and first year guys are getting a lot of playing time. That’s what you’ve got to look at in the long run.

“Would we like more wins? Absolutely. But we’re going to continue to try and win football games. When you look at what you’ve got it’s in the right direction. You’re not that far away.”

Q: What were your expectations as far as the pass rush was concerned after that trade of Allen was made?

EDWARDS: “We had some veteran linebackers who were in place. But the linebackers have been nicked and some of them aren’t here anymore. We felt that when we lose a Jared Allen we might have to blitz a little bit more but that hasn’t worked out so far. We’ve blitzed some and haven’t gotten there. You just keep working on it and I think we’re getting better. We’ve got more pressure but we haven’t gotten him down. You think about having six sacks that’s not very good for anybody. We’ve got to continue to improve with the guys that we have and from there as this thing keeps going you might have to get a guy. That’s okay. But you can’t make it happen. You’ve got to use the guys you have now.”

Q: Is it more personnel than schematic?

EDWARDS: “I just think it’s a bunch of young guys and when you’re in a rut you’re in a rut. We’ve been in a rut not sacking the quarterback. Now, I think the last couple of weeks we’ve put more pressure on him. We’ve hit him more and that’s a good sign. But we’ve got to get him down.”

Q: If you had been able to know that by Thanksgiving that you would have had only six sacks would you have still gone ahead and blessed the Jared Allen trade?

EDWARDS: “No doubt, because it was the right thing to do for the football team. You’re trying to build a football team. How do you do that? You have to get players and we’re in a situation where we knew what we were going to do. We were going to go young and we were going to draft players who were going to play. We’re going to find out what they are and that’s what we’ve done.

“The only way we got those draft choices was through the Jared Allen trade. We got more picks but not only have we got picks but those guys have become starters. Now, are they gaining experience? Yeah, they’re rookie starters. Long time ago Jared Allen was a rookie starter too. Jared Allen wasn’t Jared Allen until he became the player that he’s become through experience and hard work. Is he a very good player? Yeah, he is, but you couldn’t say that his first year. You saw some flashes but as he grew at the position he became the player that he is. It’s the same with some of these guys. They’re getting better; they’ll get better. The problem is they’re so young and there are so many of them that you don’t see the fruits of their labor yet. But you will. That’s what we’re counting on.”

Q: As you look around the league do you see another defense that you would like to emulate?

EDWARDS: “When you look at them the great thing about these guys is they’re going to be together for the next four or five years. I think they have to take on their own personality. I don’t think they have a personality yet. They don’t have an identity. They just don’t. That’s okay; that’ll come.

“The key is they’re going to play together. All of a sudden we are starting three rookie corners – two drafted and one a free agent – and two safeties who are three-year guys and one rookie, and your oldest guy on the defensive line is Tamba (Hali). The rest of them are two year players and a rookie.

“They’ve got to form their own identity. Now, we’ll add some pieces to that obviously. It’s the same thing on offense. There are a bunch of young guys over there too. I just think that the more this team goes through they are going to grow together and play together a long time.”

Q: When Allen was gone one of the plusses was getting rookie Glenn Dorsey who could provide a rush up the middle. Has he provided that?

EDWARDS: “We knew in drafting him that he wasn’t going to come in and light it up as a pass rusher right away because that’s not what he was asked to do in college. The thing that you don’t realize some times is in college he was a dominant player. You’ve got to understand in college he’s playing against guys, a lot of time, that are going to be lawyers, doctors, politicians. They’re life’s work is not going to be professional football. They’re good college players. He just happened to be one of the better players. He was playing against those kinds of guys.

“He comes into this league and he’s playing against professional football players – guards who have played that position for four or five and some 10 years. He’s going against those guys and he has no experience playing against those guys and he’s getting it every game he plays.

“I look back at Warren Sapp his first couple of years. Warren Sapp was a high-round pick. You watch his growth. You’ve got to give guys time. If you look at most of the kids that came in as defensive linemen – even the ends that came in this year like Howie Long’s son – it doesn’t happen overnight.

“You can’t have everything. We were able to get him (in the draft) but we lose a heck of a player. But we acquired a couple of other players too who are helping us right now: Jamaal Charles, who is helping; we got a safety in the third round - a good football player. We gave a player who was a good player away but we added a few more players who in the future will be good players for us.”

Q: Is there any danger in losing this team’s momentum after the four good games you played and then this last game you lost, do you worry that they may have a fragile confidence?

EDWARDS: “The thing is you find out. This is another step they’re going to have to take now. You play a game where you don’t give yourself much of a chance because you turn the ball over. I think about the game last night (Green Bay at New Orleans) where someone scored 50 points. I thought, well, somebody must have turned the ball over. Well, somebody did. You turn the ball over that many times – I don’t care who you are – and you play on a short field no matter who you are you give the other team the advantage. We played on a short field most of the day and they took advantage of it.

“So, I think we’re going to learn a little more about these guys. We’re going along, playing pretty good, are very competitive and the last four weeks before this week it comes down to the fourth quarter. You make the plays and you have a chance to win the game. Now we have this game. Now what’s going to happen? I think they’ll bounce back.

“But whatever happens they have to go through it. It’s another part of learning how to play in this league. We can’t turn the ball over that many times.”

Q: Your alma mater, San Diego State, has a head coaching opening and your name pops up. Do you have any comment?

EDWARDS: “I’ve got a college team right now and I’m coaching it.”

Q: As an old defensive back, don’t you expect your defensive backs to be able to cover a guy one-on-one in single-coverage?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, you do. There is a statement: you live by it and you die by it. Just because you blitz doesn’t mean they can’t block you. If they block us, oh boy, now you’ve got a problem. More time for the quarterback to throw the ball. Is there a match-up problem? Do you feel your corner can cover this guy? Maybe they can. You can’t keep putting him out there and if they block you they’re going to make a big play.

“We’re not afraid to do that and we’ve got some good corners who can do that and they happen to be rookies. They’ve done a pretty good job.”

Q: Overall taking into consideration last year, are you worried at all of losing becoming a habit?

EDWARDS: “This year is a little bit different than last year. Sometimes you can win games when you’re really not a good football team. This is going to be a good football team. You can see it. You’d like them to get some success.

“Did we take a step backwards from last year? Yeah, we took a step back. But last year is last year. This is a whole different deal. It’s dramatic. What we’re going through is going to help us in the long run. Other teams have gone through it.

“It’s hard for everybody. It’s hard for me. I’ve never gone through it before. I’ve never had two consecutive losing seasons as a head coach until this year. I’ve never missed two consecutive seasons out of the playoffs. That doesn’t make me a great coach it’s just what I’m used to. But guess what? I have to deal with it and make sure we get better every week?

Q: Has Clark Hunt communicated with you about the course the franchise has taken with this rebuilding effort?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, we talk all the time. He knows exactly what we’re trying to do. We’re all on the same page. That’s what’s great about this. You have to be on the same page. Everyone signed off on this. We all signed off on this. This is what we’re going to do. You’ve got have guts to do it and that’s why everyone doesn’t like doing it because it’s hard.

“Do you anticipate it being this hard? No. Are there some factors involved in this that you didn’t expect? Yeah. You’re playing with your third-string quarterback and all of a sudden he’s developing. You lose two quarterbacks and a couple of other players. That’s not an excuse but you can’t anticipate that but it happens. But everyone is on the same page and at the end of the day we’ll be able to evaluate the football team and say, here’s what we need to do to continue to get better.”

xbarretx

11-25-2008, 06:21 PM

damnit, i hate to agree with herm on some of those but i have too.... :cuss:

p.s. no im not saying im a Herm fan, im just saying that some of it makes sense. :shrug:

kc-nd

11-25-2008, 06:23 PM

I already have a favorite college team. Now I had to choose between the Chiefs and the Bison?

HemiEd

11-25-2008, 07:07 PM

Herm is obviously feeling the pressure, he is not quite as arrogant as he was.

I can only hope we are wrong about this idiot, because I think we are stuck with him for a while. Crazy thing about work environment politics, eventually you get good at it.

MichaelH

11-25-2008, 07:12 PM

Q: As you look around the league do you see another defense that you would like to emulate?

Herm- uh, yeah. One that doesn't allow offenses to play arena league on it.

StcChief

11-25-2008, 07:13 PM

so Clark is snowed in to believing in progress is being made under this staff.

Darth CarlSatan

11-25-2008, 07:19 PM

Bullshit. Herm will be on his way to SD State faster than you can say "let's fuck THIS SCHOOL'S program"!

Bank on it.

MahiMike

11-25-2008, 07:20 PM

Q: Your alma mater, San Diego State, has a head coaching opening and your name pops up. Do you have any comment?

EDWARDS: “I’ve got a college team right now and I’m coaching it.”

lol

"Bob" Dobbs

11-25-2008, 07:21 PM

He really does make a lot of sense. All he's saying is that the team's on the right track, but we have to give them time to put ALL of the pieces in place.

MichaelH

11-25-2008, 07:22 PM

Q: Your alma mater, San Diego State, has a head coaching opening and your name pops up. Do you have any comment?

EDWARDS: “I’ve got a college team right now and I’m coaching it.”

lol

They're sure tacking like it dipshit. Good job!

Rain Man

11-25-2008, 07:23 PM

[SIZE="5"] [B]
Q: Your alma mater, San Diego State, has a head coaching opening and your name pops up. Do you have any comment?

EDWARDS: “I’ve got a college team right now and I’m coaching it.”

What the - ?

I don't think that came out the way he was hoping it would.

DaneMcCloud

11-25-2008, 07:28 PM

What the - ?

I don't think that came out the way he was hoping it would.

No, I think he did.

When you consider there's like 31 first year players on the roster, that's about as close as you get to a college team in the NFL.

Fish

11-25-2008, 07:37 PM

What the - ?

I don't think that came out the way he was hoping it would.

Herm plays NCAA Football 07...... on the fandangled XBox 360....

HemiEd

11-25-2008, 07:42 PM

No, I think he did.

When you consider there's like 31 first year players on the roster, that's about as close as you get to a college team in the NFL.

That is the way I took it.

Rain Man

11-25-2008, 07:57 PM

That is the way I took it.

Yeah, I know what he meant, but when I first read it, it sounded like, "Yeah, I've got a team that can't compete in the NFL."

Maybe I'm the only one who took it that way.

milkman

11-25-2008, 08:17 PM

How many ****ing ways can they ask the same goddamned question.

The one time Herman ****ing Edwards needed to say "Get over it" he didn't.

Jared mother****ing Allen is no longer a Chief, get over you dumb****s.

stevieray

11-25-2008, 08:19 PM

How many ****ing ways can they ask the same goddamned question.

The one time Herman ****ing Edwards needed to say "Get over it" he didn't.

Jared mother****ing Allen is no longer a Chief, get over you dumb****s.

No kidding.

JASONSAUTO

11-25-2008, 08:22 PM

[QUOTE=Tribal Warfare;5248974][Q: Not to beat dead horse, but now that you have had some time since the Jared Allen trade would you still make it given your problems sacking the quarterback?

Q: But wouldn’t you like to have a guy like Allen given the troubles you have rushing the quarterback?

Q: What were your expectations as far as the pass rush was concerned after that trade of Allen was made?

Q: If you had been able to know that by Thanksgiving that you would have had only six sacks would you have still gone ahead and blessed the Jared Allen trade?[/B]]
Q: When Allen was gone one of the plusses was getting rookie Glenn Dorsey who could provide a rush up the middle. Has he provided that?[/B]

damn was claythan asking these questions?

kc rush

11-25-2008, 08:34 PM

How many ****ing ways can they ask the same goddamned question.

The one time Herman ****ing Edwards needed to say "Get over it" he didn't.

Jared mother****ing Allen is no longer a Chief, get over you dumb****s.

Somebody is writing a story about the lack of pass rush and how Allen could help this team. I'm sure you will see it in the paper tomorrow.

This is what bugs me about KC media, they only ask questions regarding the piece they are working on and don't seem to deviate from that.

Darth CarlSatan

11-25-2008, 08:34 PM

[quote=Tribal Warfare;5248974][Q: Not to beat dead horse, but now that you have had some time since the Jared Allen trade would you still make it given your problems sacking the quarterback?

Q: But wouldn’t you like to have a guy like Allen given the troubles you have rushing the quarterback?

Q: What were your expectations as far as the pass rush was concerned after that trade of Allen was made?

Q: If you had been able to know that by Thanksgiving that you would have had only six sacks would you have still gone ahead and blessed the Jared Allen trade?[/b]]
Q: When Allen was gone one of the plusses was getting rookie Glenn Dorsey who could provide a rush up the middle. Has he provided that?[/b]

damn was claythan asking these questions?

Well they can't come out and say "Coach, you and Carl really suck a butt; your collective trading/business acumen lies somewhere between 'Babysitter at $5.00 an hour', and 'Teenager's first day of work at McDonalds'.
"What do you two Colossal Fucksticks plan on doing to get this team out of the gutter"?

"Bob" Dobbs

11-25-2008, 08:36 PM

[quote=JASONSAUTO;5249264]

Well they can't come out and say "Coach, you and Carl really suck a butt; your collective trading/business acumen lies somewhere between 'Babysitter at $5.00 an hour', and 'Teenager's first day of work at McDonalds'.
"What do you two Colossal Fucksticks plan on doing to get this team out of the gutter"?Why can't they? That'd be fucking AWESOME!

kc rush

11-25-2008, 08:39 PM

Yeah, I know what he meant, but when I first read it, it sounded like, "Yeah, I've got a team that can't compete in the NFL."

Maybe I'm the only one who took it that way.

I knew what Herm was getting at, but I thought that it seemed kind of insulting to his players since they are "paid professionals". I know that these guys are young, but shouldn't you treat men like men?

Q: Is there any danger in losing this team’s momentum after the four good games you played and then this last game you lost, do you worry that they may have a fragile confidence?

EDWARDS: “The thing is you find out. This is another step they’re going to have to take now. You play a game where you don’t give yourself much of a chance because you turn the ball over. I think about the game last night (Green Bay at New Orleans) where someone scored 50 points. I thought, well, somebody must have turned the ball over. Well, somebody did. You turn the ball over that many times – I don’t care who you are – and you play on a short field no matter who you are you give the other team the advantage. We played on a short field most of the day and they took advantage of it.

Well...amazingly...as Dick Vermeil pointed out a few weeks ago, the Chiefs can't seem to win with a plus turnover ratio. Maybe Herm ought to be asked THAT question...how DOES one's team find ways to suck when the turnover ratio has been so favorable for the better part of the season?